What if Colangelo decides he does not want to be a lame duck next season and wants a longer term extension to which Leiweke/MLSE say no?

I could see a scenario where Stefanski is made interim GM and Casey is kept on for this upcoming season. During that time Casey is told to focus on defense and Stefanski is given the mandate to accumulate as many assets and as much flexibility as possible from the core of DeRozan/Lowry/Gay/Bargnani.

2014-15 would then give a new GM a clean slate with a LOT of flexibility.

Another rebuild many will say? Well, it has been on going for 14 of 18 years, what is another 1 or 2 if done with leadership possessing the patience to stick to an actual plan?

No more rebuilt. 5 years out the playoffs. No more plus. This actually a nice core. Last summer we would of died to have a starting line up like we do now.

There's definitely a lot of momentum building towards Wednesday, one way or another. It just seems to me that BC needs a fresh start away from Toronto as much as Bargnani does, for himself, the franchise, the fanbase, new ownership, etc...

I think the tension here is pretty obvious. If you fire Colangelo, you are handing the reins to someone new who will want to start over. That's fine but it might be a tough sell to ticket buyers, etc. who want to see meaningful games for their $200 tickets (or $4,000/suite tickets). It's not even really about the money per se cause this team will continue to make money regardless. It's about how far you can dig down before you can't get out of the hole....

So, there's that, versus: this roster isn't that good and won't win much of anything, so it needs to be rebuilt.

The one factor here that might play into this: look at the playoffs. Memphis, Indiana, Chicago, GS - all teams without a Lebron/Durant type guy and all right in the thick of it and, at least Memphis, is a legit title contender. Could a new guy chart a course of JV, plus another young guy, along with a rebuilt supporting cast?

Any change of direction or alternate course than the one they are on now would be ideal.
The path they are on currently is a dead end but one that will take years to get to.

While I do agree with the Fools Gold sentiment. Not only is the squad the most talented the Raps have had under BC's tenure, but its a 17-16 record team since trade and that was with no bench. Impressive, "fools Gold" sort of "Legit team that should be hovering around 6-8" with the right pieces added ya I think so there is talent on the roster now.

Ryan Wolstat ‏@WolstatSun 4h

Raptors have two options if they want to be decent/good at any point. Retool/add to what they have or blow it up and hope for lotto luck

Would you not agree this the most talented team that BC has assembled?

I do not agree with this assertion at all. The 2006/07 team had Chris Bosh (one of the most efficent big men in the history of basketball and a top 20 player), an effective and in their primes PG duo in Ford/Calderon; solid veterans in Parker, Peterson, Nesterovic and Garbo who complimented Bosh and the PGs perfectly. That roster was also better suited to the new NBA game. This roster has: a second year centre who is years away from his prime; a below average SG; slightly above average players at SF and PG - none of whom fit together or compliment each other at all. It has no bench to speak of. (Won't mention the 2004-2008 Suns, which he basically put together).

I dont see any reason to blow it up.

See above and add: no draft pick; no cap room; no trade material of any consequence. Top ten payroll, can't make playoffs. Two significant pieces are free agents in the next two years. ~$20 million tied up in players who contributed nothing all season (Bargs, Fields and Kleiza) with another nearly $30 million committed to a wing combo that can't hit threes or pass. The reason to blow it up is that this team is on the path to nowhere....

I think Colangelo's gone, and here's why. I think you have to look at it from Tim Leiweke's perspective.

From his perspective he's the new guy and he just went out and told everyone that he's about winning championships and how great this city is and its great potential. He wants us to compete with the Chicago's, the LA's, and the New York franchise.

At this point, it doesn't make sense to keep Colangelo just to see if the team he has built pans out. BC doesn't have to be in charge to see that happen. From Leiweke's standpoint, it would show weakness and indecisiveness to keep a guy around who just led you to 5 straight lottery seasons. And I don't see that happening, I don't think MLSE hires this guy if he's that kind of wishy-washy person.

I don't see how, under any circumstance, Tim could bring Colangelo back for one more year. It just doesn't make any good business sense unless he is thinking Colangelo long term, which would contradict what he said when he was hired.

While I do agree with the Fools Gold sentiment. Not only is the squad the most talented the Raps have had under BC's tenure, but its a 17-16 record team since trade and that was with no bench. Impressive, "fools Gold" sort of "Legit team that should be hovering around 6-8" with the right pieces added ya I think so there is talent on the roster now.

No bench.

Tell us how many times AA had a 25+ point night and saved us from a loss. I'd say at least 3 times.

I do not agree with this assertion at all. The 2006/07 team had Chris Bosh (one of the most efficent big men in the history of basketball and a top 20 player), an effective and in their primes PG duo in Ford/Calderon; solid veterans in Parker, Peterson, Nesterovic and Garbo who complimented Bosh and the PGs perfectly. That roster was also better suited to the new NBA game. This roster has: a second year centre who is years away from his prime; a below average SG; slightly above average players at SF and PG - none of whom fit together or compliment each other at all. It has no bench to speak of. (Won't mention the 2004-2008 Suns, which he basically put together).

See above and add: no draft pick; no cap room; no trade material of any consequence. Top ten payroll, can't make playoffs. Two significant pieces are free agents in the next two years. ~$20 million tied up in players who contributed nothing all season (Bargs, Fields and Kleiza) with another nearly $30 million committed to a wing combo that can't hit threes or pass. The reason to blow it up is that this team is on the path to nowhere....

That team lost in 6 games to a lower seed. The same team came back the next year and they declined. That team had no ceiling. Their was no way of that team getting better internally. This team has a chance to get a lot better with growth.

However you choose to read these tea leaves, does it not strike you as odd to hear something so frank from the mystical top of the mountain that is MLSE? Leiweke seems to speak openly. Let's see where this goes

While I do agree with the Fools Gold sentiment. Not only is the squad the most talented the Raps have had under BC's tenure, but its a 17-16 record team since trade and that was with no bench. Impressive, "fools Gold" sort of "Legit team that should be hovering around 6-8" with the right pieces added ya I think so there is talent on the roster now.

I dont see any reason to blow it up.

The last five years my expectations have been lowered and lowered each year. That suddenly dawned on me shortly after the fateful Washington/Cleveland/Milwaukee games after the Gay trade hype had worn off. I don't want to MAYBE get the 8th seed or *gasp* the 7th seed. F that with a capital F. My signature below of the Leiweke quote awakened my memories of what it was like to hope for and cheer for the possibility of greatness. Even if everything works out perfect this team is far away from greatness.

I defended/supported/attempted to explained what I thought were Colangelo's plans and always had the rose coloured glasses or optimistic that all would go according to "plan". Well, I was wrong. Dead wrong. I went back and forth with Tim W., slaw, ebrian, and a whole bunch of people who I banned (not because of opposing view but they couldn't oppose within the decorum of the forum). Over the years whatever could go wrong, has gone wrong. We can talk about excuses or reasons why but at the end of the day results matter. Colangelo has not had results - period. In the sad history of this franchise never has it gone 5 years without a playoff appearance until now.

Colangelo has talked great games of financial flexibility, rebuilding, building, accelerated rebuilding, potential, etc. but at the end of the day he has never stuck to a plan and he never followed through. When looking at the big picture, most of his decisions contradict one another and add another shackle and chain just as another one is finally removed.

Looking at the current roster there is nothing to get excited about, in my opinion, if you don't expect things to go absolutely perfect. Here is what would be perfect and get me excited:

- DD and Gay co-exist with both developing a consistent 3 point shot,
- Fields regains his 3pt stroke,
- Lowry returns to Houston form,
- JV is on the track to all star status,
- Bargnani finally puts it all together as he showed possible for about 18 games in 2011-12,
- Acy becomes a solid rotational player,
- veteran backup PG obtained,
- Ross becomes the 3 and D 6th man of the year candidate,
- Casey is able to return to his defensive, grind it out ways while implementing an offensive that does not rely predominantly on set shots.

I don't think everything on that list is possible with the biggest impossibility of course being Bargnani.

I was always big on getting Gay but it was with the expectation Bargnani was at or near an All-Star performer. Bargnani is not and will never be at or near an All-Star performer as a Raptor. The foundation was built on sand. The team was built around Bargnani. Bargnani was the stretch 4 who could minimize the impact of DeRozan's ineffectiveness from deep. Gay was the SF who could be the elite perimeter defender and and above average rebounder to minimize the impact of Bargnani's deficiencies. JV was the help side defense, rebounding, rolling machine to create space for and mask deficiencies of Bargnani. Lowry was the ridiculous rebounding, defensive, and punch&kick PG to once again help minimize and create for Bargnani.

Because I don't think everything will go according to the ever changing plan Colangelo has laid out over the years and for the future, I see every reason to blow it up.

This entire franchise is currently built on a foundation softer than Bargnani's waistline.

That team lost in 6 games to a lower seed. The same team came back the next year and they declined. That team had no ceiling. Their was no way of that team getting better internally. This team has a chance to get a lot better with growth.

The organic growth? Come on. From whom? Gay is in his 8th year. He isn't getting any better. He is what he is. Derozan has been the exact same player in terms of his statistical impact for the last 3 years. Lowry has levelled off production wise. And what more can we expect from Amir? Dude has improved enormously. What's left? You can't expect him to keep making huge jumps each year. That leaves you with JV.

So, yeah, Gay, Derozan and Lowry might get a little better but you are then expecting career years from all 3 guys. At the same time. Along with career years from JV and Amir. That's a lot to ask. Jose Bautista made a great comment going into this year about the previous year's Jays and it was something like, "if you are counting on guys who hit 10 home runs to hit 30 and guys who hit 230 to hit 300, you are in trouble". It's baseball but it applies here as well. If you are relying on guys who are 20% 3 pt shooters to shoot 35%, you are in trouble (and so on).

You can't simply expect that everyone gets better every year and plays better together and you have no injuries. The GMs and owners who sell that line are generally selling snake oil.